Masters of Oooh & Aaah

Time: Tuesday, July 3, 2018, 10:23 a.m.
Location: Magic Island, Honolulu
Photographer: Jeff Hawe

From left to right: Travis Raymond, Lance Nishioka, Foster Topou and Lance Redding prepare fuse wires and load shells into guns.

Travis Raymond (left) and Lance Nishioka of J&M Displays West arrange shells atop guns per specified firing order in preparation for the Ala Moana Center’s Fourth of July fireworks show last year, launched from Magic Island. National company J&M Displays will run the show again this year and Sherry Souza, GM of J&M West, says it is one of the largest in the company’s western region every year.

Sherry Souza of J&M Displays.

Left: Travis Raymond (left) and Lance Nishioka arrange shells atop guns per specified firing order. Right: Jerry-Jo Elliot (left) and Randy Mariano arrange the fuse for a long string of shells.

Sean McCombre places fuse wires into their respective spots.

Travis Raymond carefully sets fuse wires so they will function but not get in the way of a launching shell.

The barrage of over 1,200 fireworks is choreographed to a soundtrack. J&M does a lot of testing to precisely time and visualize a show, Souza says. “It’s not just dragging a cooler of beer down there and setting things off with a road flare,” she jokes. This year’s soundtrack will be simulcast on KSSK-FM and feature hits from the past 60 years to celebrate Ala Moana Center’s 60th anniversary.

Check out this time lapse of the 2018 Ala Moana Center fireworks display: